Deuteronomy 23:9

When the host goeth forth against thine enemies,.... An army of soldiers march in order to meet the enemy and fight him: then keep thee from every wicked thing; the Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of

When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.

Then especially take heed, because that is a time and state of confusion and licentiousness, when, as one said, the laws of God and man cannot be heard for the noise of arms; and because the success of thy arms and enterprises depends upon God’ s blessing, which wicked men have no reason to expect; and because thou dost then carry thy life in thy hand, and therefore hast need to be well prepared for death and judgment.

Deuteronomy 23:9 When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.Ver. 9. Then keep thee from every wicked thing.] Walk accurately, as carrying thy life in thy hand; for "the sword devoureth one as well as another," it spares neither lord nor losel, as they say. Every soldier therefore should be a saint, ready pressed to meet the Lord, who hath said, "I will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto me."

Deuteronomy 23:9-14. PURITY OF THE CAMP.(9) When the host goeth forth against thine enemies . . . keep thee.—“Because Satan maketh his accusations in the hour of danger” (Rashi). (10) Uncleanness that chanceth him by night. As in Leviticus 15:16. (11) When the sun is down.—“No man is clean (after ceremonial uncleanness) except at the going down of the sun” (Rashi). (12) Without the camp.—It must not be forgotten that this is the camp of the army, not the whole encampment of Israel in the wilderness. The entire passage is continuous from Deuteronomy 23:9. Hence the whole discussion raised, after the appearance of Dr. Colenso’s work, on the size of the camp of Israel and the possibility of obeying this rule, was simply waste of words, and arose out of a misunderstanding of the matter under consideration. The sanitary value of the rule has been abundantly demonstrated in our own day. (13) A paddle—rather, a pin, or spike, like that with which Jael slew Sisera. The word for “weapon” does not occur elsewhere. The LXX. translates it “a pin or tent-peg at thy girdle;” the Hebrew word (βzκn) being like the Greek (ζώνη). But both Targums interpret the word as “weapon,” connecting it with the Hebrew zayin, which has that meaning. The hinder end of the spear in Abner’s hand was sharp enough to strike Asahel a fatal blow when he followed him (2 Samuel 2:23). Saul’s spear also was “stuck in the ground at his bolster” (1 Samuel 26:7), probably with its point upwards, by the same spike. (14) For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of . . . thee.—A most beautiful argument for purity in every sense. It was evidently present to St. Paul’s mind in 2 Corinthians 6:16 to 2 Corinthians 7:1, “God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them. . . . Having therefore these promises . . . let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

The whole passage refers not to the encampments of the nation while passing from Egypt through the wilderness, but to future warlike expeditions seat out from Canaan.

9-14. When the host goeth forth — The purity of life in the camp, when they shall be engaged in future wars, is provided for in this passage.